In Mali, “the Algiers Process is painfully slow, and peace is not advancing,” noted Jean-Hervé Jezequel, Deputy Project Director for West Africa at the International Crisis Group, offering his analysis of the situation in an interview on the website Sahelien.com. “The setting up of the interim authorities is a significant step towards clarifying the division of responsibilities and power in the north of the country. Beyond local tensions, it is also interesting to note that young Malians have been appointed to important positions (sometimes because they are the only graduates). But this remains a fragile and insufficient step,” he said. Read on

Women in West Africa - as in many other parts of the world - remain largely underrepresented in the political sphere. When we look at the national percentages, women occupy only 421 seats in West African parliaments, representing 16.1% of all lawmakers. Twelve out of the 17 West African countries have averages that are below the world average of 23.3%. Senegal is a notable exception. Read on

On 18 February, Adama Barrow was officially inaugurated as the third President of the Republic of The Gambia, timely coinciding with Gambia’s Independence Day. After more than a month and a half of uncertainty about the future of the country following President Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to recognise his defeat after the 1 December 2016 elections, he finally agreed to step down under the threat of ECOWAS soldiers and went into exile in Equatorial Guinea. This allowed Barrow, the victorious winner who was himself exiled in Senegal, to return to the country. The outcome of the Gambian crisis has provoked different reactions. Read on

The murderous attack on the Joint Operational Mechanism base in Gao on 18 January threatens to undermine efforts to achieve peace in Mali. The attack, which killed nearly 80 people and injured more than 100, targeted a key feature of the Algiers peace agreement: joint patrols. These patrols, which bring together soldiers from the Malian military, members of the Co-ordination of Azawad Movements as well as from several militia groups, are aimed at securing areas that are currently beyond the control of authorities, particularly in the north. Read on